Screaming on the Mountain

Tiny UFO and Cactus Wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus)

It was already crowded when Becca and I got out to the Sunset Area west of Tortugas Mountain this morning.  Fine.  People enjoying the great outdoors is all well and good, but when they start screaming at each other and creating unnecessary noise pollution that's something else.  And these weren't kids, who you can forgive because of their youthful exuberance.  These were adults who, for some reason, find it imperative to yell at one another from the mountaintop.  It put me temporarily in a bad mood, but that mood was erased by a lengthy hike into the outback where we ran into nobody else.  The area was still crowded when we returned to the car nearly two hours later. 

Yellow flower and friend

Can't ID the tiny butterfly yet

Zipping along the trail

Cactus garden

Light and shadow with Ocotillos

In the foreground Plumed Crinklemat (Tiquilia gregii)

Closeup of Plumed Crinklemat

It's a flycatcher, but which one?

Woolly Paperflower (Psilostrophe tagetina)

Unicorn Plant

There's a clue to my boot brand written in the sand

Great way to advertise a product, no?

Brreak time!

A large Hedgehog Cactus

Nipple Beehive Cactus (Coryphantha macromeris)

Climbing Milkweed (Funastrum Cynanchoides)

Climbing Milkweed